Fraternity of Chefs

Chefs stay busy. So, time spent with chef friends is often relegated to late, whiskey-laden evenings, when little of substance is discussed. Opportunities to break out of that pattern ar rare. I was afforded one last spring, when I flew to Athens, Georgia, to do a fundraising dinner with Hugh Acheson at his restaurant Five & Ten. The night before the event, we sat around the table in Hugh and his wife Mary's home kitchen. Hugh cooked a perfectly seasoned flounder for fish tacos; we topped the tacos with cilantro, radishes, avocado, queso fresco, and fresh salsa. We discussed music, food philosophy, and restaurant and book design. Candle wax had run across the table by the time we were done. It's in moments like those that I realize we are a unique fraternity, we chefs. I need that from time to time. —John Currence, City Grocery Restaurant Group, Oxford, Mississippi